Please Read My Mind
by FufuuDesu
Summary: Ayano muses over a fight she has with Kazuma. Somehow she ends up in a hospital with him right next to her.


_Moody oneshot that's different from what I usually write._

_I hope it's somewhat enjoyable. I might write a second chapter to this. Right now, I'm leaving it as is._

_**This fic is** **DISCLAIMED**. **I don't own Kaze No Stigma.**_

* * *

I looked up at the clock ticking above my math teacher droning on about limits yet again. I was physically in the classroom but my mind was a billion miles away.

_"Maybe it's better if we're not together- you never want to see me anyways!"_

_"Let's break up then!"_

I buried my head back into my arms again.

Tears flooded my eyes again.

How could Kazuma say that to me? It's true that I suggested it first, but I didn't really mean it.

I wanted him to hold onto me and tell me he could never leave me; he would always love me.

How had it come to this? Was it the age difference?

It can't be... We've never let the age difference get in the way of our love before. Maybe it's me.

Maybe I'm just too fickle, to sensitive, too young to understand him and love him. Maybe I'm just wasting his time, tying him down when he was not meant to be with me. Or it could be because I push everything onto him- every fight it's always _'it's all your fault!' _

He'd always ruffle my hair then, telling me _'Okay Princess, if you say so!' _Then I'd grin against my will and everything would be okay again.

But this time something is different.

Kazuma snapped at me. He ignored me.

"Ms. Kannagi?!"

I raised my head and looked at the math teacher. He stared back at me.

"What do you think are the limits of this?"

I looked down and all consciousnesses faded.

* * *

I woke up to blinding lights. It was bright- shockingly so.

_Where am I? _I thought.

I tried to raise my hand to rub at my eyes, but to my horror there were needles attached to it. Only then did I hear the faint beeping of machines and the blank silence that took over once the beeping stopped.

In quick successions, I blinked the sleepiness from my eyes and looked around.

I was in a hospital.

A mountain of rough white hospital blankets were piled ontop of me, and my foot felt numb. I looked toward the numb spot and jumped.

Kazuma was there in all his glory; he was sleeping on the numb spot. His face was peaceful, except for a frown tugging on his eyebrows.

I didn't know what to do; my mind raced in a billion directions all at once. _Should I wake him up? Should I let him sleep? What is he doing here anyways? How did I get here? Is he okay?_

Deciding to wake up up so I could relieve myself of the horrible cramp in my leg, I tried to sit up. It turned out to be an epic fail, since I was simply too weak to do so.

Just then, a nurse walked in.

She looked to be a young, pleasant lady. With a light smile on her face, she took the clipboard from the side of my bed and flipped a few pages. Only then did she turn her attention towards me.

"Ms. Kannagi-" she started, stopping when she noticed Kazuma.

"Oh my!" she mouthed, mostly to herself.

"Yeah. Could you help me? I have a cramp in that spot." I informed her, wincing at how little my voice was, and how much it strained me to talk. _What happened to me? Why was I so weak?_

She walked over to Kazuma, her modestly high heels making click-clak sounds against the the floor. She shook him gently awake.

When Kazuma woke up and started rubbing at his eyes, panic seized my heart. _What would he say? What would he do? Does he still want to- _I couldn't bring myself to even think of it.

"Mister, visiting hours have been over a long time ago. Why did you stay? It is against hospital regulations, so you'd better leave now!" The nurse calmly told Kazuma.

He looked up at her and simply said, "I'm not leaving."

In that moment Kazuma and the nurse must have silently agreed to something; she just disregarded him and turned back to me.

"Ms. Kannagi, are you aware of the reason you are here?" She asked me seriously. I couldn't think about anything but of Kazuma's eyes on me.

"I-I wasn't eating?"

"Ms. Kannagi, you were severely dehydrated and malnourished. On top of that, you had barely slept at all. You could have died somewhere if you hadn't collapsed at school. Do you realize that?" She told me sharply. "You're in a stable condition now and you'll be released in a few days. I just have to warn you- please take care of yourself. If you don't, my friend here will be devastated."

Just like that, she slipped the clipboard back into the slot on the side of my bed and clickety-clacked away.

I looked away from Kazuma. His stare was hot; making me burn even though I was the fire-user, not he.

"What were you thinking?" He started off finally. I didn't say anything.

He then strode his way over to the side I was facing and held my face in his hands. He made me look into his eyes.

In his eyes I saw fear, relief, and love all at once. With all the strength I could muster up, I turned my head away from his searching eyes.

"You tell me you want to break up, and then you let yourself be like this. What are you doing? Are you playing a damn joke on me?" he cried in a tone I hadn't heard his voice take on before. It hurt me to hear how much he was hurt.

He sat down on my bed when I said nothing again. Stroking a stray piece of hair away from my face, he started again, "Ayano don't do this to me."

"Do this?" I echoed him, my voice frail compared to his rich baritone. "What do you mean?"

"Don't push me away and then suffer. If you don't want me anymore then at least let me see you happy without me." He said softly, not looking directly at me, but still caressing my face.

_But I'm not happy without you! _My every being screamed.

Of course, I was too scared to say that. So I said something else instead.

"You don't have to watch me suffer."

He looked back upon me, even more hurt than before. "I can't stop watching you Ayano. I wish I could- but I can't!"

My heart leaped at the amount of attention I was getting from him.

"Don't leave me." I finally choked out, tired all of a sudden.


End file.
